Recap: Bethlehem Steel FC draws Pittsburgh Riverhounds

Drawing in must win situations is probably an awful feeling. Drawing after a disallowed goal in the first half and a missed chance in the 90th minute is probably an even worse feeling. Needless to say, Bethlehem Steel FC won’t be having a great Monday.

The first half started out on a bad note for Bethlehem, as Cory Burke turned the ball over right outside the Steel 18 yard box before bringing down Kevin Kerr for a penalty. Corey Hertzog stepped up for the Hounds and netted his 13th goal of the campaign. Steel FC were hungry for the equalizer right away. Walter Restrepo played the set up man for Cory Burke, who saw his first chance saved by a diving Zach Steffen and his second disallowed in peculiar fashion. Burke slotted home and the offside flag stayed down after James Chambers initial through ball pinballed off of a pair of Riverhounds defenders, the head official was in discussion with his assistant and after a minute or two the head ref disallowed the goal. After watching it a couple of times I realized that this was the correct call, but the amount of time it took to disallow really killed a ton of momentum for BSFC.

Bethlehem came out on the front foot in the second half pushing for an equalizer. Steel FC got their deserved goal after Cory Burke rifled a ball into James Chambers who had to chest it in from 10 yards or so to level the score 68 minutes in. Pittburgh would counter a few Steel chances with ease, but a Hertzog chip of Matt Jones was cleared off the line by Ryan Richter. Stoppage time was a similar story. Matt Jones came up for a Bethlehem corner (he almost won the header for what it’s worth) as Zach Steffen broke the Hounds counter. With a four on one and a goalie that was running practically 100 yards, the Riverhounds couldn’t put the nail in the coffin again as Matt Jones got a toe to the shot and kept the game level.

The score would stay that way, preserving a draw for Bethlehem which unfortunately isn’t enough to keep them in the playoff picture.

Orlando CIty B will be in town next Sunday at 3pm. We’ll have all the pertinent information later this week, so stick around in the meantime.